Jaw face construction for pipe wrenches



July 21, 1959 m m -Cr' m J. c. MYERS ETAL 2,895,365 JAW FACE CONSTRUCTION FOR PIPE WRENCHES Filed Oct. 22, 1957 ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent JAW FACE CONSTRUCTION FOR PIPE WRENCHES John C. Myers and Monty M. Hagar, Salem, Ill. Application October 22, 1957, Serial No. 691,594

6 Claims. (Cl. 81-186) This invention relates to wrenches, and particularly to pipe wrenches or the like wherein the jaws are designed to exert a firm grip on a cylindrical or similar object.

Pipe and similar wrenches are conventionally formed with jaws having transverse serrations or grooves defining sharp-crested ridges or ribs for the purpose of biting into and firmly gripping a workpiece. As is well known, the grooves between the ridges often become filled with oil or grease and similar foreign matter usually mixed with dirt or dust and scale from the work pieces to such an extent that the grooves become completely filled with the foreign matter. That foreign matter soon becomes tightly compacted within the grooves to such an extent that it prevents the sharp crests from effectively biting into the work piece with consequent slipping and premature dulling of the sharp crests. It has been found to be difiicult to effectively remove such a compacted accumulation of foreign matter from the grooves of conventional wrenches and is always a time-consuming job. Furthermore, the resharpening of such crests on a conventional wrench is always a difiicult procedure.

According to the present invention, the gripping edges of such a wrench are formed as peripheral or boundary edges of openings extending into the respective wrench jaws and communicating with the exterior of the jaw at a point remote from the gripping elements. By such structure all dirt, scale, tar and the like scraped from the work piece by the gripping elements enters the openings and is conducted through the passageways and discharged from the wrench without being held thereon in position to become compacted and without interfering with the use of the wrench.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention will be discussed in detail, as applied to a pipe wrench, but it is to be understood that such description is for purpose of illustration only.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a pipe wrench having work engaging and gripping means adapted to remain permanently free of foreign matter.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a pipe wrench of the type set forth wherein the work engaging and gripping means are removable and replaceable.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a pipe wrench of the type set forth that is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, and eificient and reliable in operation.

Additional and further objects and advantages will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the description proceeds in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a pipe wrench embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 3 is a further enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

The pipe wrench illustrated in the drawings comprises a more or less conventional pipe wrench structure having a handle 2 provided with an integral lateral projection 4 having a longitudinal opening 6 therethrough generally parallel to handle 2. A transverse opening 8, through projection 4, rotatably receives an internally threaded cylindrical nut 10 and retains the same against axial movement.

An end of the handle 2 adjacent the projection 4 is provided with a groove 12 removably receiving a rib 14 extending downwardly from a removable jaw 16. The jaw 16 is held in assembled relation to the Wrench handle by means of a transverse pin 18, as is well known in the art.

A movable jaw 20 is provided with a transversely flattened spanner shank 22 loosely slidable in the opening 6 of the projection 4. The shank 22 is further provided with thread portions 24 on opposed edges thereof, engageable with the internal threads of nut 10. As is well known in the art, rotation of the nut 10 effects movement of the jaw 20 to regulate the spacing thereof with respect to the jaw 16 to accommodate work pieces of different sizes.

The jaws 16 and 20 are provided with opposed faces 26 and 28, respectively. The faces 26 and 28 are, in turn, provided with spaced protuberances 30 extending outwardly from their respective faces and tapering toward their outer ends. Centrally through the protuberances 30 the jaws are provided with openings 32 (see also Fig. 2) extending through the outer ends of the protuberances and bounded by sharp peripheral edges 34. The edges 34 are in the nature of knife edges and constitute the Work gripping portions of the wrench. Each of the jaws 16 and 20 is provided with transverse openings 36 there through extending through opposed side faces of the respective jaws. The openings 32 extend inwardly of the jaws into communication with the transverse openings 36 and the latter communicate with the exterior of the jaw at the side faces, which are obviously at positions remote from the work engaging and gripping protuberances 30. As will be obvious, the sharp peripheral edges of the protuberances 3i constitute effective work gripping means and the openings therethrough are in position to receive foreign matter and other debris which may be scraped or loosened from the work piece and that foreign matter is discharged through transverse openings 36 so that it does not accumulate on the wrench jaws and ultimately foul the same.

Fig. 3 shows a preferred manner of forming the protuberances 30 on each of the jaws of the wrench. As shown in Fig. 3, each protuberance 30 comprises the outer end portion of a short tubular insert 38. Each of the inserts 38 is provided with an inner end surface 40 abutting a stop surface 42 defined by the bottom of a recess 44. The tubular inserts 38 are snugly and frictionally held in the recesses 44 so as to be normally held in assembled relation to the jaw but are not permanently fixed therein and can be removed for resharpening or replacement when necessary or desirable. Preferably an inner edge portion 46 of each insert 38 extends at least partially into its corresponding transverse opening 36 so that a suitable tapered or wedge-shaped tool may be inserted in the openings 36 to loosen and eject the inserts 38 when it becomes necessary or desirable to replace or recondition the same. The inserts 38 are preferably of hardened steel.

The dotted line 42 of Fig. 3 indicates how a work piece will normally engage adjacent protuberances on at least one of the jaws. As will be obvious from that showing, any slipping or movement of the work engaging means relative to the work piece, in either direction, will result in the sharp edges '34 scraping foreign matter from the work piece directly into the openings 32.

While a single preferred embodiment of the invention is shown and described herein, it is to be understood that the description is merely illustrative and that the invention encompasses other forms falling within the scope of the v appended claims.

.We claim:

1. In a wrench, a pair of jaws having opposed faces, work engaging and gripping means on said faces, at least one of said faces having openings adjacent said work engaging and gripping means, each of said openings extending inwardly into said jaw and intersecting at its inner end an interior passageway in said jaw, said interior passageway in turn providing communication with the exterior of said jaw at a position remote from said Work engaging means, whereby foreign matter dislodged by said work engaging means is discharged through said openings 'to the exterior of said jaw.

4 v bounded by said sharp peripheral edges, and means defining passageways from the inner ends of said openings to the exterior of said jawsfat positions remote from said bosses.

4. A wrench as defined in claim 3 wherein said bosses comprise the outer end portions of open-ended tubular inserts removably seated in recesses in said faces, the interiors of said tubular inserts comprising said openings.

5. A wrench as defined in claim 4 wherein said jaws are provided with opposed side surfaces adjacent said faces, said openings being substantially perpendicular to said faces and said passageways comprising transverse bores extending through said opposed side faces.

6. A wrench as defined in claim 5 wherein the inner ends of said inserts extend at least partially into said transverse bores.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1 ,692,911 Vaughn Nov. 27,1928 2,772,053 Schmidtmann Nov. 27, 1956 2,795,225 So'vatkin et a1. June 11, 1957 

